


Lost to the Darkness

by Nerieda



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Canonical Character Death, F/M, Mild Blood, aerdynweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 01:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19163410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerieda/pseuds/Nerieda
Summary: Submission for aerdyn week on tumblr.





	Lost to the Darkness

   This is my submission for the first day of Aerdyn week over at [@aerdynweek](https://tmblr.co/mssXK5-I-_7skGqwoLSnhKA).  I hit on all 3 prompts for the day:  first meetings, daemonification, and the song lyric “Did I love you too much?” from Black Lake by Bjork.

* * *

 

 

   He still remembered that day, one of the most pivotal in his scant 23 years.  His father and mother calling him to a private audience that morning; to tell him they had chosen a bride for him.  He was already travelling much of his time, roaming the kingdom, healing and speaking with those afflicted by the Starscourge.

 

__“She’s a good woman.  The eldest of the Fleuret clan’s daughters.”_ _

__

__“I don’t have time to spend courting a girl, barely more than a child.  The scourge is spreading, our people need me to be out there helping them, healing them like I was called to do.”_ _

__

__"Oh Ardyn,”  his mother sighed deeply.  “Healing them is important, but Aera is called upon by the Astrals as well.  She’s already been chosen as the Oracle.”_ _

__

__“And as such, it is important that we join our houses together.  You or Somnus one will be selected by the Astrals as king.”  His father’s stern glare brooked no further argument._ _

__

__Ardyn sighed looked away.  “Very well.  Will I at least have an opportunity to meet with her before the announcement?”_ _

__

__His mother smiled softly.  “Of course dear, she’s in the private gardens now I believe.”_ _

__

__He bowed his head once to both his parents and strode out of the room, making his way quickly towards the family’s private gardens.  It was still early, this part of the manor quiet.  Around a small bend in the paths he could see a figure clad in white.  He slowed his step as he approached her, coming to a stop as she turned._ _

__

__The early morning sun created a illusory halo of light around Aera; turning her hair to spun gold. As she faced Ardyn, a soft smile formed on her lips.  “Good morning, you must be Ardyn.  Your mother said she expected you would want to find me after they spoke to you.”_ _

__

   She had been…in a word: perfect.  They spent the time before the official announcement forming the basis of a fast and seemingly effortless friendship.  They had so many plans and ideas for how to help the people and worked well together in their duties.  The only hindrance to them was the worsening Starscourge, first claiming his own parents while he was away. Then, keeping them both so busy at times they had scarce moments together; the date for the long awaited wedding pushed further and further back.  

 

   His memories of their years together, the bits and pieces of happiness they claimed the only thing that helped keep his sanity in his long internment on Angelgard.  Now here in the Niflheim capital, seeing Ifrit the end of it all was bearing down on him for the first time in a very long time.

 

__That golden hair he had loved to run his hands through was limp, the ends quickly staining red.  A weak cough spilled more crimson from her lips, down the sides of her face into her hair.  Ardyn watched helplessly as the woman he loved fell still in his arms. With nothing left but rage, grief and confusion in his mind, the all the scourge he had pulled from others as he healed them came roaring to the front, turning him into a daemon in front of the assembled citizens._ _

 

   That’s how Ardyn remembered events:  he knew that was how they ended, and from that point until waking some time later chained in Angelgard his mind was a blank slate of nothing but swirling darkness.  And yet, in this new memory (hallucination?  He wasn’t completely sure anymore), Aera was there, able to speak.  

 

__“Did I love you too much, Ardyn?  In my happiness for you, for US, I defied the will of the Gods and revealed to Somnus you had chosen to be king.”_ _

__

__His mind was reeling with everything:  he was supposed to be king; his own brother tried to kill him, to paint him a traitor and daemon to take the throne; and his love blamed herself for all of this?__ __And then the scene turned even darker, Somnus forcing him to wield the blade that killed her this time around.  The gods turned deaf ears on his screams for answers.  If he was their chosen, if she had been their Oracle, why the silence?  He could feel the darkness rising in him again like he had in the throne room that day.  Burning away everything good in him; his love, his grief, his goodwill and honest desire to heal.  Leaving only the rage, the hatred, the desire to watch it all come crumbling down.__

__

   He came back to himself, his purpose solidified.  If he could do nothing else to his millennium-dead brother, he could destroy every last shred of what the man had left behind.  If Ardyn had no legacy of his own, by the time he was done, neither would Somnus or the Gods who had turned their backs on him.  

 

By the time he was done, ARDYN would be the only one laughing.


End file.
